


i can't keep sheltered behind glass about to crack

by sweetpeasprite



Category: Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Fear, Found Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Panic Attacks, drippy breaks his lantern, i am here to remedy that, i am so shocked i forgot to tag that one, i have not seen ONE drippy centric fic in all my years of this fandom, oliver does not vibe with this, that's it that's the fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:08:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24343270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetpeasprite/pseuds/sweetpeasprite
Summary: Drippy absolutely despises the Vault of Tears.
Relationships: Oliver (Ni no Kuni) & Shizuku | Drippy
Comments: 4
Kudos: 41





	i can't keep sheltered behind glass about to crack

**Author's Note:**

> title from the song monster town by go! child!!
> 
> can you BELIEVE ni no kuni said "oliver had a traumatic experience where he almost drowned and drippy is scared of the dark" and then did NOTHING with the vault of tears?? i sure can't!

Drippy has decided the Vault of Tears is a horrible, horrible place that, if it wasn't half filled with water, could go die in a fire.

Being a frog was awful. Drippy is scared of frogs. Not many people know that, but he is. Odd phobia, he knows. It's a weird sensation, becoming something you're scared of. There's something poetic in there, Drippy thinks, but he really,  _ really _ can't be bothered to think about it at the moment.

Prince Ali informs them there's a giant snake, and Oliver steps up to fight it. Drippy is scared of snakes. Oliver doesn't know that one, because if he had, Drippy likes to think he would've at least hesitated before agreeing to fight the  _ giant snake _ . It's a less odd thing to be scared of. Drippy plans, if they do find the snake, to stay as far away from it as he can.

Drippy's biggest fear, however, is  _ really _ setting him back. It's the reason he has a damn lantern on his nose - he is  _ terrified _ of the dark.

And the Vault of Tears is pretty dark, to say the least.

(At least he doesn't have a fear of water. Poor Oliver had been shaking like a leaf after swimming through that big pool when they were still frogs.)

The only thing giving Drippy solace is the light on the end of his nose, and it's so murky in the Vault of Tears that he can hardly see it. He'd mentioned this fact near the entrance to the damn place, and Oliver had given him a glance and immediately stepped closer, as though offering comfort, which Drippy very much appreciated. Though, he's not sure now if Oliver is sticking close for Drippy's comfort or his own, considering how he keeps as far away from the water as possible, and how his eyes widen in fear when he accidentally gets slightly too close. Drippy doesn't mind either way. It's still helping.

What doesn't help is how Oliver has to move away from him during battles. It's not helping either of them, in fact, as sometimes Oliver has to get closer to the water to get in a better position, and Drippy can see the fear in his eyes as he does so. Drippy does his best to stay near Oliver, or at least one of the three humans, at all times. This doesn't always work out.

Picture this, if you will: There are three monsters on the battlefield. Oliver and Esther are tag teaming a sillymander. Swaine is taking on an obscuroboros. They're fighting their best, as usual. Drippy watches as Esther hits the sillymander towards Oliver with a Splish Slash from her strongo, and Oliver bats it back. They’re in an area that doesn’t have as many candles as the others, so it’s darker than usual, but Drippy can just about see them.

He watches as they wear down the two monsters little by little. Then, he hears a hissing noise to his left, and his blood runs cold as he realises there were, originally,  _ three _ monsters.

Drippy's eyes widen as he turns and notices the najalisk ever so slowly slithering towards him. He starts to back away, but it just narrows its eyes and starts going faster. Why did it have to be a  _ snake? _ Drippy asks internally, slightly desperately, and he can feel himself shaking in fear, his heart pounding as the najalisk almost looks like it smiles before it rapidly picks up speed. Drippy  _ freezes. _ Usually, Drippy's all for fight or flight - he picks between them often. Today, though, he appears to be able to pick between a few more options - fawn or freeze, he believes they're called. It seems he's picked freeze. This is not in his favour. He has just enough time to yell before he shuts his eyes as the najalisk tackles him head-on, knocking him face first onto the stone floor.

He hears something shatter, and Oliver shouts his name with so much panic in his voice that Drippy is shocked to realise that he was the cause of it. Oliver yells to Esther to keep fighting and Drippy hears his footsteps getting closer, along with a Fireball being shot as he does so.

Drippy opens his eyes as he sits up, expecting to see Oliver fighting off the najalisk. What he finds instead is that everything is  _ so much darker. _

The area is lit up by Oliver casting Fireball after Fireball at the najalisk, which allows Drippy to see tiny pieces of shattered glass and a candle, previously lit by Drippy's own magic, having been put out by a puddle on the floor. What remains of the lantern on the end of his nose is a piece of bent red metal, the part attached to the silver nose ring still fully intact.

Drippy stares at the shards of glass, and at the remains of the candle. He vaguely registers a cut on his nose from where a shard of glass hit him. He is much,  _ much _ more concerned with the fact he  _ can't see. _

That's an exaggeration - he can see, because if he couldn't, how would the rest of them be able to? But it's  _ dark, _ and he certainly can't see very  _ far _ . It's  _ awful. _ Anything could be just  _ there _ , in the dark, and he wouldn't be able to see it until it was too late. That’s the worst part about the dark - not the dark itself, but the things that could be hiding in it. That najalisk could be there  _ right now. _ Except it isn't, Drippy reasons before he can panic over  _ that _ as well, because Oliver is very obviously trying to not only kill the najalisk but cremate it, if the amount of Fireball he's casting is any indication. He has better spells. Drippy wonders why he isn't using those. The Fireball  _ is _ helping keep the dark at bay, Drippy thinks. It's not as good as the lantern, and he is still  _ very much hyperventilating, _ but it's better than nothing.

The najalisk hisses as it goes down to the final Fireball, vanishing in a puff of smoke and glims. The onslaught of Fireball stops, which leaves Drippy in close to total darkness for a few seconds, which leaves Drippy in  _ panic _ for a few seconds. His breathing gets faster, heavier, and he feels like how he did before he had the lantern - a scared little littlie, hiding in the forest near the Fairyground and not realising the sun is setting.

Something touches him. He startles, and the thing pulls back immediately. Drippy blinks, realising in the minimal amount of light there is that the thing is Oliver, kneeling on the floor, and moves closer.

Oliver gently reaches out, wary of scaring him again, but when Drippy doesn't jump at his touch, he tugs him towards himself and up onto his lap, hugging him with one arm. He uses his other hand to draw a rune using his wand. Drippy can't quite see it from the height that he's at, but he does appreciate the blue light of the magic. And Oliver hugging him. Oliver's lap is definitely better than the cold, slightly damp stone floor, and his arm is almost like a safety barrier. So he appreciates it. He's slightly less panicky now, but not by much.

Then Oliver's wand lights up.  _ Magic Lamp, _ Drippy realises, blinking in the sudden light but already feeling  _ so _ much better, his breathing starting to slow down almost immediately. Oliver rests his wand on his lap next to Drippy, bringing the light as close to him as possible.

"You okay?" Oliver murmurs, and Drippy looks up at him to find him looking down with the most worried expression on his face that Drippy's ever seen. And as much as he hates to admit it, it's warranted. He only hums an affirmative in response, and Oliver presses his lips together and wipes away Drippy's tears ( _ tears? _ When did he start  _ crying? _ ) with his thumb, then inhales through his teeth.

"You're bleeding…" he says, and Drippy registers the stinging on his nose. Before he can say anything or protest, Oliver picks up his wand again and casts a quick Healing Touch, and the cut vanishes. Then he takes his wand and puts it back into his belt, before hugging Drippy with both arms to his chest and standing. The wand is still emitting light, and Drippy is close enough to it that he isn't scared (or, not as scared as he would be).

"Is he okay?" Esther's voice says, and Drippy nearly jumps out of his skin. He didn't notice her coming over - Swaine is still off collecting the loot from that obscuroboros. He glares at her the best he can, but his best isn't  _ the _ best right now, considering he just had a panic attack over being in the dark and is currently hanging in a thirteen year old's arms.

"He's fine!" Oliver says, hugging Drippy ever-so-slightly tighter, as though reinforcing his words. "We can keep going. Remind me to stop at a Hootique next time we can?"

"Sure," Esther says. "Are we running out of something?"

Oliver hums, watching Swaine start to make his way over. "Kinda."

Oliver carries Drippy the rest of the way through the Vault of Tears. He doesn't complain.

\---

"I got you something."

Drippy squints up at Oliver from where he's sitting on the edge of a milk fountain in Al Mamoon, Oliver standing in front of him. They'd stopped here to get provisions after they had used their last phoenix feather while fighting Aapep. Oliver had come out of the Hootique hiding something behind his back.

Oliver glances to where Esther and Swaine are checking over the provisions he bought, then brings his hand out from behind his back to reveal a small lantern charm. It's blue, instead of red, and it's more ornate than Drippy's old one, with little carvings running up the corners and on the roof of it. The candle inside has already been lit - enchanted to be burning forever, if Drippy's senses aren't mistaken. Judging by the warmth and bits of light magic it emits, Oliver was the one who charmed it. Drippy takes it and looks it over.

"I- I know it's not the same as your old one," Oliver tells him, and Drippy looks up to find him looking pointedly at the ground, "but I thought… you'd want it anyway. I did try to find a red one, but, uh, the Hootique only had a few. I didn't think they'd have tiny lanterns at all, to be honest, and-"

"Ollie-boy," Drippy says, and he glances up. "You went and learned a new spell for this?"

Oliver blinks. "Uh, not a spell exactly, um, but… yeah."

Drippy looks up at him, then down at the still-burning lantern, then back to him. Oliver presses his lips together and fidgets with his hands in nervousness. "Sap," Drippy says, finally, and Oliver stops for a moment before smiling.

"We never got your old lantern off," Oliver says, sitting next to him on the fountain edge and reaching his hand toward Drippy's nose, before pulling back. "Uh…"

"Go ahead," Drippy says, and Oliver smiles again before scooting closer. Drippy can't reach his nose ring (which is embarrassing, and he's glad Oliver offered before he had to admit it), otherwise he might have taken off the red lantern himself. Might have. He's not sure if he could have even if he could reach it. Oliver fiddles with the ring, trying to figure out how it works, before he manages to snap it open so he can take the red lantern shell off of it, before taking the blue lantern and sliding it on, snapping the ring back into place.

"Done!" Oliver grins at him, the lantern swinging down when he lets go. "Does it… is it okay?"

This lantern is lighter than the last one. It's also… warmer. Drippy can't quite tell due to being in the sunlight, but based on the magic he can sense flowing from the lantern, he thinks it's probably brighter, too. He likes it. It has an Oliver feel to it, which he supposes makes sense - it is his magic, after all, that's now semi-permanently attached to his nose.

Oliver's still looking at him as he tests the lantern's weight. "Suppose it'll do," Drippy says, trying to downplay his happiness. Can't have this lot getting too comfortable, hm? "'S not too bad."

Unfortunately for him, Oliver sees right through it, and perks up, grinning wider. "You like it? I wasn't sure if I'd done the charm right…" Drippy doesn't get a chance to respond before Oliver holds up the red lantern. Now that it's not on his nose, Drippy is able to see it properly - it still has tiny pieces of sharp glass attached to it. He's not sure if he wants Oliver to be holding it, considering that. "What should we do with this?" Oliver asks.

Drippy shrugs. "Don't know, do I? Get the glass out of it before you do anything, though, mun."

Oliver stares at it for a moment, before wrinkling his eyebrows. "Oh. Uh…" He takes his wand from his belt. "I guess we could've just…" He draws a small rune in the air - Rejuvenate, Drippy recognises - and the lantern bends back into shape, the pieces of glass popping out as it does so, some falling dangerously close to Oliver's lap, but they've been turned dull by the spell, so they wouldn't hurt him anyway.

"Oh. Why didn't it…?" Oliver turns the small metal frame over in his hand. It's just the frame, now - no glass or candle.

"Don't have all the pieces, mun," Drippy explains, swinging his head up to look at him. The lantern still feels new and weirdly light, but he'll get used to it soon enough. "To fix a broken window, you need all the shards, right? S'why it's so hard to Rejuvenate a broken window, en't it? Better to just buy one brand new."

"So it  _ was  _ better to get you a new lantern?"

"That lantern was over a hundred years old, Ollie-boy! Planning to get a replacement at some point anyway." He wasn't, but Oliver doesn't need to know that. "You're doing me a favour, mun."

Oliver smiles at that, then stops when he hears Esther shouting at Swaine. Again. Drippy catches that it's something about paying for inns. Oliver gets up to go check they're okay.

"Oi, Ollie-boy." Oliver stops and looks around at Drippy's voice. "...Thanks," he murmurs under his breath.

Oliver blinks at him, before smiling. "No problem, Mr. Drippy."

**Author's Note:**

> god i love drippy. he's canonically scared of the dark, heights, frogs, and snakes. love that bastard boy
> 
> yell at me on tumblr: @sweetpea-sprite  
> or on twitter: @demidemipancake


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